Faculty Writing Residency

About the Residency

Since 2006, this annual four-day writing retreat has catalyzed faculty writing about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Participants meet for four consecutive days at the start of the summer to write and to exchange feedback on drafts. Balancing dedicated time for faculty writing with small group feedback on drafts, these intensive summer retreats help faculty make the crucial, and often difficult, step of going public with their SoTL research.

Writing on a laptop at the Writing Residency Tree House location We welcome residency applications from faculty writers at any stage of their writing projects—from beginning ideas to completed drafts. Applicants, however, must be available for all four days to focus on their writing and must be working on projects that they can further develop through the residency activities (dedicated time/space for writing and daily feedback from colleagues).

Residency participants meet daily in small groups, and as a whole group on the first and last day of the residency. This year’s residency will be located on campus or as a virtual experience, if circumstances merit.

The 2024 Writing Residency is scheduled for Tuesday, May 28th – Friday, May 31st, 2024. Applications are due by 5pm on Monday, April 22nd, 2024.

For more information about the residency, contact Jill McSweeney.

Residency Outcomes

To date, approximately 65% of Faculty Writing Residency participants have published their residency projects in peer-reviewed publications. (Faculty looking for publication venues for their SoTL projects can review this list of SoTL Journals.) Beyond publication outcomes, the residencies have helped faculty fine-tune their writing habits, connected colleagues from across campus for ongoing writing groups, and inspired participants’ renewed motivation to pursue SoTL research agendas.

Past participants have said:

“I was astounded at how rich and helpful the feedback was – not just from the facilitator, but from each group member. My progress was so accelerated!”

“The writing residency helped by providing a quiet and peaceful place to draft and positive peer pressure to produce each day.”

“I am so grateful for the Writing Residency. It dispelled my fears about publishing my research and gave me a safe place to explore the possibilities at hand. My team became a network of support and immediate feedback. The Writing Residency was truly a transformative time for me in my career and I am so grateful.”

Sample Publications by Participants:

Adamson, S. (2012). Community-based learning: Reaching beyond the classroom wallsThe Language Educator, 7(2).

Adamson, S. (2012). Plantu and pedagogy:  The draw of editorial cartoons in the classroomThe French Review, 85(5), 879–885. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23213979

Auman, C. (2011). Using simulation games to increase student and instructor engagementCollege Teaching59(4), 154-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2011.602134.

Depro, B. (2022). Making introductory economics more relevant: Using personalized connections to introduce environmental economicsInternational Review of Economics Education, 39(March), 100230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iree.2021.100230.

Carpenter, JP. (2015). Pre-service teachers’ micro-blogging: Professional development via TwitterContemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 15(2), 209-234.

Carpenter, JP. (2014). Twitter’s capacity to support collaborative learningInternational Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2(2), 103-118, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2011.602134.

Felten, P., Moore, J., & Strickland, M. (2009). Faculty writing residencies: Supporting scholarly writing and teachingJournal on Centers for Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 39-56.

Holmes, A. (2009). Advancing campus-community partnerships: Standpoint theory and course re-designReflections: Writing, Service-Learning, and Community Literacy, 8(3), 76-98.

Isaac, M. (2012).‘I hate group work!’ Social loafers, indignant peers, and the drama of the classroomEnglish Journal, vol. 101, no. 4, 2012, pp. 83-89.

Kearns, L. (2010). Somatics in action: How ‘I feel three-dimensional and real’ improves danced education and trainingJournal of Dance Education, 10(2), 35-40.

Kupatadze, K. (2018). Course redesign with student-faculty partnership: A reflection on opportunities and vulnerabilitiesTeaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 1(24), 1-10.

Myers, J. & Festle, M. J. (2007). Getting more for less: When downsizing in honors yields growthJournal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 8(2), 57-66.

Palfy, C. (2019). Instructing a range of experiences within the music theory classroomThe Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, 1(55), 376-381.

Patch, P. (2018). The danger of polite silence: Five strategies for getting students to talk to one anotherNational Council of Teachers of English.

Peters, T. (2012). Teaching for social justice: Creating a context for transformationJournal for Cultural and Religious Theory, 12(2), 215-227.

Pyne, K. (2012). Reading and college readinessEducational Leadership, 1(69), 1-16.

Pope-Ruark, R. (2011). Know thy audience: Helping students engage a threshold concept using audience-based pedagogyInternational Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 5(1), Article 6, https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2011.050106

Russell, A. (2010). A model for undergraduate research in statistics educationInternational Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4(2), article 25, https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2010.040225.

Shively, K. (2018) Point of view: An exploration of one Meisner teacher’s journey to character developmentThe Players’ Journal.

Train, T. & Miyamoto, Y. (2017). Encouraging science communication in an undergraduate curriculum improves students’ perceptions and confidenceJournal of College Science Teaching, 46(4), 76-83.

Udeh, I. (2020). Tangible corporation: A receivables audit casee-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching, 14(1), 90-118.

von Briesen, E. (2023) Do We Need to Write? Researching Perceptions of Disciplinary
Writing Importance and Skills in an Advanced Computer Science Course, Journal
of Computing Science in Colleges, 39(5), 119–128.

Wente, A. (2019). Search-solve-sing: A group presentation model to strengthen practice and performance techniques in upper-level aural skills classesJournal of Music Theory Pedagogy, 33, 233-252.

Windham, S. (2017). Culture first: Boosting program strength through cultural instructionDie Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 50(1), 79–90.

To view sample SoTL publications by participants in CATL programs, visit our SoTL publications page.

Note to Writing Residency Alumni: We love celebrating your accomplishments. Please email us your citations so that we can add them to this list.